Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1887-05-19
woMAN,s WAGES.
Why Remuneration for Her Work, Ne
Matter How Well Performed, Il Low.

Why Recommendation IUE IiUr VNt@t NO |
Matter How Well Performed, u Low.
Doubtless a puissant reason Tor the |
low wages Of women is thepyersupply
of women. In the good providence Of
God there is no oversupply; but an APP
parent oversupply is made to appear in
the calculations of the econoiui sts who,
without inquiring why tits 50, are ready
with their statistics to show That the
cleaners in the field Of labor are always
in excess of the gleanings Within the
last twenty years women have pushed
themselves by dint of undertaking and
proved steadiness into many Ioccupa-
tions heretofore monopolized bH mon.
The progress Of invention hasaided this
tendency by creating new occupations
The business Of telegraphy, telephony,
typewriting, kindergarten teaching,
and all the wonderful mechanicai CON
trivances for knitting. weaving, sew
ing. spinning and kindred Industries
have created a demand for labor pre-
ciscly suited to the quick and nimble
fingers of womankind.
But the very low wages earned in
nearly all the callings, new and old.
where the labor of women has to some
extent supplanted the labor Of men
furnish proof that the area Of employ
ment should be further widened The
very fact that it is possible for women
to support themselves without resort
ing to matrimony as a matter of busi-
ness calculation, has no doubt added to
the proportionate number of the un-
married. In so far as, this has been
the case it has served to retard any i'm
provement in the rate Of wages by In
creasing the number Of employees in
probable excess of increased employ
ment. Unlike men, women can not
undertake the care of household and
60 on with other form Of labor. When
woman marries there is an end Of
bookkeeping, telegraphy or shorthand
writing. She steps into more natura,
and more important but less indepen
dent occupation, and makes room fol
another woman. But the fewer mar
riages there are the less room there is
1t is question for statesman whethe
policies that encourage factories ant
t discourage farmers are better or wors
for the mass of the population. / an
inclined to think that farms should b
preferred before factores. Farmer
can not get along without wives Th
. workers in factories, both men an
: women, may live minated. Many {
! them can never afford to live in an
other way, and so antagorize one al
other in the battle ofSlifc. This
\ dreadful. 1t makes one almost symp,
thize with the wish of Thomas Jeffe
y son, that a sea Of fire bad been inte
!, posed between this colptry and u
manufacturing nations. 81
I The United States, Though the grea
" est of agricultural nations. Is rapid
becoming great as a manufacture
country. We have many factories ar
arc constantly getting more. The pre-
t. sure, however, for factory employmel
becomes more intense year by yea
One means of relieving this pressul
should be insisted upon: Child lab,
should be dispensed with. The laws il
il tended to prevent it should be so amen
: ed as to provide adequate means #
D. enforcement. just as the preventic
}. of imported labor from other countri
N under contracts based upon wage sy
d TENS not suited to this free count
n would improve the condition Of m,
IL who work in mines or build railroad
ss or engage in other forms Of unskill'
. labor. so the abolition of child lab
Is would be followed by widening of t
4! field for the labor of women. Emplo
M ers should not be allowed to force doy
I5 the wages of the grown mother or sist
= by putting against her in the struge
40 for existence the poor children w
ought to be in school. and who a
physically dwarfed and mentally
numbed by the drudgery imposed up
~ them.
Women who are workers in {
grand army Of industry are profound
= interested in every possible moveme
o. which tends either to narrow or to {
,s large the number of hands to do or I
= amount of work to be done. Whatey
crowdI the occupations in which m
!" exclusively engage reacts upon the ,
=, cupations in which men compete w
80 women. If boys can not get TO be n
On chinists, or farmers, or engineers
.5s large number Of them win be clerl
~ ,@ statesmen, telegraphers and type-wi
ers. y
10 se AS a beginning, in making room
m more women there is no more prom
'.So 'So ing field than the one indicated. Tn,
- ought to be no cessation in the effort
- keep infants out Of the factories.
rp no place were thereby made for q
'pt out of work who are old enough
= work, still the human side Of tho m
m ter ought to engage the mind Of ev,
y s.S9 thinking man and the heart Of ev,
90 good woman.--Philqdelphia Record.
O4O ------s-s-s---------,
Al Unexpected Answers.
70 ihere is something fresh and invig
atino In n piuuant and unexpected